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Found after 23 years

September 16, 2004

The remains of Swedish woman Margot Lydua Aulikki, recovered from Kangla Jot glacier at a height of 20,000 ft after it had lain there for 23 years, were today brought to a hospital in Shima for forensic examination.

The body, which has been reduced to a skeleton was wrapped in polythene and kept in a coffin at Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital here for conducting forensic examination.

The Swedish embassy in Delhi had already sent the dental card of Margot for matching and the body would sent to Delhi after completing necessary formalities.

Jagat Ram, an assistant sub inspector of police, who had accompanied the rescue team to Kangla Jot glacier and came to Shimla with the body, said there were reports that four bodies were sighted at the glacier in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district but the rescue team could recover only one body.

He said the weather was very bad as it was continuously snowing and as such the other bodies reportedly buried under the ice could not be traced. He said it was possible that the bodies were again buried under deep snow but nothing could be said with certainity.

A Swedish passport (no 75406334), visa and some other documents were recovered from the physical remains of Margot.

The documents revealed that she got her visa extended by 90 days from Pakistan and had entered India through Wagah border on April 22, 1981.

Born on Dec 15, 1952, Margot was 29 years old in 1981 and it was presumed that she had gone to Kangla Jot area for trekking and was buried under snow sometimes in the summer of 1981.

Laxmi, a guide who had sighted the bodies, could not locate the exact site and said the glacier had changed so much in the past one month that it was difficult to pinpoint the spot and the rescue team had to return with only one body, rescue team members said.



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